"With those who do not give a damn about baseball, I can only sympathize. I do not resent them. I am even willing to concede that many of them are physically clean, good to their mothers, and in favor of world peace. But while the game is on, I can't think of anything to say to them."

Joba. Hughes. 4 months went by without practically no bullpen vs starter murmurings. It was nice. It was nice to have a break from the vicious campaigning and arguing about this issue that will never, ever, in anyone's lifetime, ever be settled.

"What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed... forever." -Kevin Spacey, in Se7en

Here we go again.

Yesterday, when I felt that old familiar tension of a tied game, and when I almost weirdly enjoyed the stress and aggravation despite the loss, I understood why. Today, when I have to see the Pandora's box of the bullpen-reliever rhetoric, fly open and unleash its insidious powers, I can be assured that I will not feel the same "oh I remember this!" nostalgia that I did yesterday.

The Yankees are trotting out the big guns for Tampa, eh? In addition to Joba and Hughes, D-Rob is slated to take the mound (!!!) , along with Jeremy Bleich, Grant Duff, Dustin Moseley, Hector Noesi, and Kevin Whelan.

I really need to get MLB.tv. David Price is pitching for Tampa and I've been fascinated with this guy since I saw him go up against the Sux in 2008. The kid's got good stuff, but it needs refining.

Oh, and Nick Johnson is out of the lineup again for a stiff lower back. I know yesterday I lambasted him for getting hurt already. Today, I'm a little more magnanimous. Maybe since it's Friday, but maybe because it just occurred to me how it's a little unfair, generally speaking, to throw people under the bus without giving them a fair shake. This, coming from me, is perhaps ridiculous since I decide within 45 seconds whether or not I'm on board with someone.

But it's the spring. It's like December for baseball fans. The season of giving.